Dear building simulation users,

The jEPlus team at De Montfort University is organizing the ?second generation? of the Design Optimisation Competition (DOC2014, see: http://optimisationcompetition.org) with DesignBuilder Software Ltd. This competition will be quite different to the other competitions you have known, because you are not only competing with your peers, but also entries from the last round. In DOC2014, we have kept most of the design tasks and criteria identical to DOC2012; therefore the previous entries are still valid. You are free to inspect, analyse, modify an existing design, and submit it as your own entry.

What difference does this make, you may ask. Well, for a start, it gives you a starting point allowing you to focus on improving the design without the need to create a model from scratch. It is much easier to enter the competition even if you are not familiar with DesignBuilder, and your ability to create a winner is less bound by your skills with the software.

Would not the competition be too easy, you asking? Quite the opposite! The bar for winning the competition is in fact very high ? your new design must outperform the champions of the last round to stand a chance. It is a real test to your ingenuity and knowledge of energy and buildings.

As software developers, we of course want to see how our new tools help the competitors in their quest. This competition will test DesignBuilder?s new optimisation tool, and the remote simulation solution by DMU. To find out more about the competition and the tools, please register for the free webinar at 15:00 GMT on Tuesday, 14 January: http://designbuildersoftwareltd.cmail2.com/t/r-l-nurkthl-fkujdhyu-w/

Best regards,

Dr Yi Zhang